PO, Human Rights

Position description

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Head of Democracy & Good Governance Division, the officer’s main tasks and responsibilities will be to support the work of the Division in promoting the human rights and rule of law agenda in ECOWAS Member States as articulated in the Supplementary Protocol.

Role and Responsibilities:

• Ensure the liaison, coordination, and follow-up of activities of the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and the secretariat of the regional network, make recommendations for improvements on all human rights activities in the sub-region, governments, national institutions, other regional organizations;
• Assist in organizing sub-regional training and information activities for ECOWAS staff and for Government officials, law enforcement officials, military, lawyers and judges, members of parliament, educators, media, and NGOs;
• Collaborate in developing joint human rights initiatives with the other REC’s, UNDP, UNESCO and other agencies, and coordinate ECOWAS cooperation activities with them and other multi- and bilateral actors, including donor Governments and NGOs;
• Participate as a resource person in human rights seminars, workshops and other fora organized in the sub-region;
• Provide support for the formulation, monitoring, and evaluation of national technical cooperation projects in the sub-region;
• Provide information on ECOWAS human rights standards and their domestic application to the Governments in the sub-region and other various partners in technical cooperation;
• Represent, as appropriate, ECOWAS in various meetings, consultations, negotiations with the Governments in the sub-region;
• Assist the Head of the Division in reporting on the activities of the Division;
• Perform other relevant duties as required and assigned by the supervisor.

Qualifications

• At least a bachelor’s degree in law, Human Rights, Political Science, Development Studies, Social Sciences, or any other discipline related to human rights from a university of recognized standing;
• At least three (3) years of progressively responsible professional experience in dealing with Protection and Promotion activities in the field of Human Rights;
• Experience working with international Human Rights standards, instruments, and mechanisms;
• Knowledge and expertise of gender and women’s rights issues would be an asset. Management and leadership experience is required;
• knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches relevant to Human Rights and Rule of Law.

AGE LIMIT

• Be below 50 years old. This provision does not apply to internal candidates.

ECOWAS KEY COMPETENCIES:

• Ability to lead in the execution of tasks, contacting colleagues and contributors as needed making decisions to ensure tasks are completed as expected;
• Ability to guide own work by setting and monitoring goals with strong personal initiative and commitment to ECOWAS;
• Ability to model and advocate for compliance, good work ethics, flexibility, and persistence to get job done, coupled with an ability to influence positive teamwork and cooperation;
• Ability to lead small teams to carry out semi-routine work including assigning work, training, and checking work;
• Excellent interpersonal skills to engage with clients in positive exchanges that establishes mutual expectations and understandings and reduces uncertainties and conflicts;
• Ability to keep a client informed on matters of relevance to expectations, establishing “bring forward” systems and introducing other procedures/techniques to ensure that service standards are maintained;
• Ability to make decisions based on guidelines, procedures and precedents and maintain confidentiality and discretion with clients/stakeholders;
• Good judgement and demonstrated ability to be assertive – rather than passive or aggressive when interacting with clients;
• Well-developed problem-solving, critical thinking and conflict resolution skills:
  • Ability to perceive the moods and feelings of others, and to understand the attitude, interests, needs, and perspectives of others;
  • Well-developed ability to relate well with people from varied backgrounds, open to understanding diverse cultural differences especially within West Africa;
  • Ability to listen attentively to people’s ideas, requests, and concerns and to explain to others the need for diversity management in everyday workplace practices;
  • Ability to factor in diversity when providing services, responding to requests, recognizing, and releasing preconceived notions and stereotypical views of certain groups and individuals.
• Basic understanding of the ECOWAS organization mandate and its functions:
  • · Ability to explain the functional area assigned to and the contributions it makes to the organization and its mandate.
• Knowledge of ECOWAS semi-routine procedures, processes, and practices as it relates to assigned responsibilities and information systems;
• Ability to apply ECOWAS standards in emailing, reporting, correspondence, etc. and to contribute to implementing associated changes as directed;
• Ability to carefully review and check the accuracy of information in work reports provided by management, management information systems or other individuals;
• Good knowledge of office monitoring indicators of relevance to own work (e.g. travels, purchases, accounts, meetings, etc.) and ability to provide brief reports or updates;
• Ability to edit, check, track and review documents prepared by others and reorganize data or information according to instructions using latest technology;
• Efficiently retrieves, inputs, edits, formats, transmits, and links electronic file data used for analysis and understands basic data management operations;
• Ability to condense information and/or produce concise summary notes to help others with decision-making, problem solving and/or assessment work;
• Proficiency communicating orally and in writing in any of the three ECOWAS official languages (English, French & Portuguese);
• Demonstrated computer skills to communicate using tools such as email, Skype, word processing, excel, social media, etc. and to write and format documents appropriately for presentation, the web, proposals, reports, and other documents;
• Ability to proofread, edit and revise document to ensure documents are grammatically correct, follow standard conventions for punctuation and mechanics and formatted in accordance with ECOWAS communication standards;
• Ability to relay/redirect complete and accurate messages to appropriate persons/departments;
• Fluency in one of the three ECOWAS official languages (English, French & Portuguese);
• Ability to organize information or materials for others, solving minor problems and checking for completeness and compliance to standards or instructions;
• Knowledge of techniques to prioritize tasks in fast paced workplace with frequent interruptions and moving deadlines and adaptability/ flexibility to meet work expectations;
• Understanding and adherence to the policies, procedures and guidelines required to support the ECOWAS planning cycle at the individual and organizational level;
• Good initiative with an ability to identify what needs to be done and act before being asked or required to.

Application instructions

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